Man stabbed to death overnight in Downtown Eastside

Man in custody after allegedly brandishing weapon on Vancouver's West Side

A 19-year-old man is dead after being found stabbed outside a supervised injection site on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside early Tuesday morning — Vancouver's seventh homicide of the year.

Around 3:30 a.m. PT Tuesday police were called to the scene on East Hastings Street between Main and Columbia streets, according to VPD spokesperson Staff Sgt. Randy Fincham.

Officers found a man suffering from "extensive stab wounds," collapsed on the ground in front of the supervised injection site Insite.

The man was taken to hospital where he died a short time later. His identity has not been released by police.

"We have limited information at this point as to what happened to this individual. It appears that it may be as a result of a scuffle, an altercation, that happened within that block," Fincham said, adding the incident has no connection to Insite.

No arrests have been made, and detectives from the VPD Major Crime Section are expected to be on scene throughout the morning.

7 homicides to date in 2017

The death is Vancouver's seventh homicide in 2017, compared to a total of 12 homicides in all of 2016, Fincham said.

"Certainly to have seven homicides by March ... I certainly haven't seen numbers like this in quite a while," he said.

Despite a number of recent violent incidents on the east side of Vancouver — including another non-fatal stabbing that also took place overnight March 14 — Fincham said violent crime in the area is actually decreasing.

"Although the numbers are trending down as far as violent crime on the east side of Vancouver, [it's] obviously not comforting that we've got some very significant, violent incidents that have happened to two individuals who are living in Vancouver."

Fincham said police don't believe there is any link between the recent stabbing incidents or any of the seven homicides.